California: CPUC Staff To Examine Energy Companies Response To Lynch Report

Dow Jones Business News -- Yahoo ^ | Thursday October 3, 3:05 pm ET | Jessica Berthold, Dow Jones Newswires

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

LOS ANGELES -(Dow Jones)- California Public Utilities Commission board member Michael Peevey Thursday directed energy division staff to examine generators' responses to a report that said the firms could have prevented most blackouts and service interruptions in 2000-2001.

The mid-September report, released by CPUC President Loretta Lynch, said six energy companies failed to produce all available power during the outages and interruptions. Generators didn't follow the instructions of the state's grid operator and didn't make plants available as soon as possible after outages, the report said.

Duke Energy, Inc , Williams Companies and Mirant Corp (NYSE:MIR - News) have issued detailed responses to the report, saying it was based on inaccurate outage data, underplayed the role of the state's grid operator in determining which plants are run and when, and overstated plant capacity.

AES Corp (NYSE:AES - News) said in its response that, because it only operates the plants for which it contracts all power to Williams, suggestions of improper bidding or generating behavior are inapplicable.

Dynegy, Inc (NYSE:DYN - News) and Reliant Resources, Inc (NYSE:RRI - News) are still working on their responses, spokesmen said.

The company responses were sent to state Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, who chairs a committee that is investigating energy market manipulation, with copies sent to the CPUC.

Dunn said Wednesday he plans to hold a committee hearing on the generators' responses, but no date has been set yet. Though he is still poring through the responses, Dunn's initial impression was that they were "more of the same smokescreen arguments," he said in an interview.

"The generators are famous for their interpretation of the rules to explain themselves without getting to the core of the matter," Dunn said. "I am also critical of the (grid operator) for not being competent enough to see there was available power."

Lynch has yet to release a companion report on reported outages during the state's 2000-2001 crisis were legitimate. A CPUC spokeswoman has said there is no time frame for the release of that report. Dunn said he did not think its release was imminent.

-By Jessica Berthold, Dow Jones Newswires; 323-658-3872; jessica.berthold@dowjones.com

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

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[snopercod]

Lynch has yet to release a companion report on reported outages during the state's 2000-2001 crisis were legitimate.

That sentence makes absolutely no sense. Where do these writers go to school, anyway?

Or was it written that way on purpose to hide the fact that there is an unpublished report out there which exonerates the generators?

[randita]

"The generators are famous for their interpretation of the rules to explain themselves without getting to the core of the matter," Dunn said. "I am also critical of the (grid operator) for not being competent enough to see there was available power."

At least there's a kernel of acknowledgement that the grid operator might not be competent.

[snopercod]

Yeah. I wonder where they got their first clue...

[California] State grid operator behind plant's output swings

[Dog Gone]

This is all a farce, anyway. California officials have a long, documented record of playing politics with the energy situation, and outright deception and falsification.

They aren't even interested in the truth. The truth is irrelevant to what they are trying to accomplish.

[snopercod]

OK, according to Jessica, the sentence should have read:

Lynch has yet to release a companion report on whether reported outages during the state's 2000-2001 crisis were legitimate.